I'd like to see more clinics. My "ideal
clinic" would have everything an LD has: vets, ride manager, volunteers, a trail
with one hold. The volunteers would be experienced endurance riders and
they would coach the new riders on every aspect of their ride preparation and
execution. The vets would evaluate the horses extremely carefully at
check-in; the hold; and at the finish. Everyone would get a detailed
critique of their horse and their own horsemanship (similar, but maybe even more
detailed that in NATRC). I would probably limit the ride to 10-15 miles
but have it include a lot of technical trail with advisors, even on horseback,
to help riders and horses to learn to negotiate these successfully.
I know this would be an incredibly expensive
operation and maybe not that fun for vets, managers and endurance riders, but I
remember some of my first NATRC rides and how unprepared many of the novice
riders were. People who go to clinics pay $500-$1000 now. My
opinion: this would be worth a lot more than a lot of the clinics around
the country now.
